Apathetic Way To Be
by Shift-Wing
Summary: When the flock finds another mutant, like them, what will they do when they find she has the power to unravel their deepest secrets? Fax... New, original character s
1. Ruins

Sorry for the bad summary- I'm not good at this either, so let's jump right into the disclaimer:

Sorry for the bad summary- I'm not good at this either, so let's jump right into the disclaimer:

**Disclaimer:** Seriously, do I look like a 61-year-old guy? Oh but I own the new character(s). I thought up the plot, but it isn't super original, and I know it's been done before. So yeah, enjoy.

Chapter One: Ruins

We were back in New York. It felt like forever since we'd last been here, and I didn't want to remember what happened. I smelt the fumes and the food and heard the crowds and that was enough.

But we wandered down the streets of Manhattan nevertheless, having just landed in a deserted alley moments ago. The Voice led me here, after it had told me to leave our new school. It gave the latitude and longitude measurements and off we were, feeling freer than ever.

"Ohmigod, I'm _so so soooo_ happy that we're back it New York. Maybe we can get makeovers again? That would be so awesome. Can we get hot dogs? I'm a little hungry. There's a guy selling them right there. Do you remember when we were being chased and we ran into that church? I wonder if we could go there again. I had a lot of fun-"

I tried to block out Nudge's voice. I concentrated on the sky until her blabber was white noise and barely a buzz in my ears.

The dreary clouds above us looked weighed down and heavy, threatening to dump buckets and buckets of rain down on our unprotected heads. I zipped up my rain jacket all the way and motioned for the others to follow. Nudge, Angel, Iggy, Fang, and Gazzy all sped up to keep up with my fast, nervous pace.

Fang fell into step next to me. "Are you sure about this?" His voice betrayed no emotion and I couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes. My own were glued to a building not far away at the corner of the next street. Its old white paint was peeling and most of the dark windows were boarded up.

"Of course I'm sure," I responded. But my heart was speeding up as we neared the apartment. We crossed the street and I halted, Fang banging into me from behind and pulling my shoulders back so we wouldn't fall. The others made a sort-of half circle around us.

"Why would the voice lead us here?" I murmured to myself. Only Iggy picked up on it, but he didn't respond. Making my face blank, I spoke to the others.

"This is it. Be ready for a trap. Be on your guard and _stay together_. The voice has always helped before," I smiled to myself at my little lie, "but just don't be stupid. I'm sure we'll be fine." I felt Fang's eyes boring into my head but I refused to look at him. I know he saw right through my calm reserve.

"Let's go." I sincerely hoped I wasn't leading the flock to their doom.

I kicked down the rusty door, bits of debris falling down from the ceiling. It swung open obligingly. There was a set of stairs going up, and a set going down. It was lighter upstairs, so I made the swift decision and cautiously made my way up, the flock silently following behind me. Even Nudge was quiet.

The first floor up was empty. None of the doors were locked, and the rooms were all dark. On the second floor we got lucky.

The forth door in was partly open, grayish light shining through. Fang was practically breathing down my neck as I pushed the door open wider. The tingles that his breath sent down my spine were very distracting.

The room was practically empty; the floor covered in plastic and the walls a plain, boring white. Everything was flecked and streaked with paint. In the middle of the room, with her back to the door, was a girl painting on as easel. As we crowded the doorway she stopped humming and cocked her head to one side.

She turned around and gasped.

­­­­­­­­­

So that was the first chapter.

**R&R** please :)


	2. Mutant Like Us

I would like to thank my first two reviewers, and I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter

I would like to thank my first two reviewers, and I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Max Ride. Don't steal my characters.

I didn't even notice the person standing there when Max first opened the room. The first thing that hit was that I could see. _See_. As in, open my eyes and look at shapes and colors and recognize them. The room was white, obviously, with random colors splattered against the walls.

I heard them gasp, and tried to look at Angel and Nudge who were still mostly in the hallway, but as soon as I did everything went dark. Hastily, I returned my eyes to the scene.

_That_ was when I noticed the girl. She was Fang's height, maybe an inch or two shorter. Her hair was tied back from her face loosely. It was gray, but almost silvery, not like an old person at all. Her loose, teal windbreaker was at least three sizes too big, it came down about four inches above her knee, with only an inch of white mesh shorts showing. Her clothes and long legs were paint-slashed like the walls.

As the girl turned completely in front of the dark canvas, my vision flickered, I just managed to see a smear of black paint down her cheek before I had to look away.

**--**

Her eyes were frightening.

Her left was like a cat eye, orange with a black slit, and the right was light a hawk's. Neither was the least bit human looking.

"Who are you?" I demanded, seeing that Max was shocked speechless. That didn't happen often, but I swear to you, those eyes pierced right through my soul and pinned it to the wall across the hallway.

"They named me Morgan," she replied bitterly, though her voice sounded shaky and scared.

"Who are _they?_" Max finally inquired of her, eyes flitting back and forth from her face to the ground, to the walls, to the flock.

She didn't reply.

"Morgan?" prompted Nudge, barely whispering it.

"Don't you _dare_ ever call me that again," the girl snapped, voice dripping with venom. Her eyes flashed, we all flinched.

_Don't worry Max, Fang, she's o.k., she's not evil, she doesn't want to hurt us. And she's a… mutant too._ I heard Angel's sweet voice in my head. I felt relieved. But why would Angel hesitate to say that she's a mutant?

Max heard this, and looked just about as relieved as I felt. She opened her hands wide in a gesture of what was supposed to look like peace, I think.

"It's o.k. We're not going to hurt you. I'm Max, and this is Iggy, Fang, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy." She gestured to the friends in question. "We're mutants, just like you." Slowly but surely, Max let out her beautiful wings, rustling her jacket. It was the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

"Shacar. You can call me Shacar," whispered the cat-hawk-human. Slowly but surely she took off her jacket, revealing a black tank top, and turned around.

Shacar stretched out her wings, looking at our reactions sideways. The wings were dark brown and dark red and light brown. They were at least 16 feet, beating in span both Iggy's and my own.

"So," she said shyly now, apparently soothed by what I knew Angel was whispering to her in her mind. "You must be hungry."

**--**

Second Chapter, _finito_! I hope you like! I'm working on the third as we speak, so it should be out soon. Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! (Three so far and it hasn't even been out for twenty-four hours yet.)

Thanks a gain, and keep on reading,

PK (Shift-wing)


	3. Empathetic

The third chapter

The third chapter. Foreboding sounding, yeah? Well, I don't know why this first line always repeats, so whatever and sorry it looks bad. And sorry for all the grammar mistakes and left out words in the second chapter. I'll try and check this one over. Oh and I added a bit of Fax, but it will definitely come in great quantities in the next chapter.

**Disclaimer: **Yeah. Just FYI, I'm not JP. Granted, I wouldn't mind if I _did_ own Fang, but you know, not gonna happen.

--

"So what's your story?" We'd just gotten through telling Shacar the _important_ details of our lives. Important as in, stuff everybody already knew anyway. We were not very trusting folk at this time.

Shacar eyed me warily. "No better than yours," her voice sounded foreboding, yet pitiless. "I was born, taken, grown, much as you, though earlier. I was the first multi-animal hybrid. And the last.

"I am 5 percent hawk, which species I have no clue. Red-tailed, maybe. 3 percent tiger," she pointed to her left eye as she said this. This one and her other eye betrayed no emotion, but her voice was bitter and full of regret.

"Why the last?" asked Fang, leaning on his right hand, his elbow propped up on the table next to his empty bowl of noodles. His hair drifted into his eyes and I longed to brush it away. He caught my stare and I quickly flicked my eyes back to Shacar, feeling heat rise up my throat and make its way to my cheeks.

"As you all know, most of the mutants created by Itex mutate by themselves after a while. It didn't take so long for me. They were sure it was somehow connected to the fact that I was more than three parts- I am only 92 percent human. I became what they call an Empathetic. I sense emotions and their source, and involuntarily duplicate them. It took 16 years of my life to learn to resist copying people's feelings- it's easier when they're far away. I can stop myself from showing how I feel, but I can't stop feeling it. That's one reason I dislike crowds. When there are a lot of people with the same emotion- anger, especially, it is almost impossible to resist.

"And so I hide. I hide and I paint and I sneak out for food, but I've been alone for about 6 months, until now."

An uncomfortable silence fell around the table, covering us all in a thick blanket that made it difficult to breathe. Gazzy coughed, Angel fiddled with her hair, and Nudge finally broke the silence.

"Don't you eat?" She asked the question that we all had wondered. While we had each had at least five bowls of the noodles she prepared, all Shacar had done was nibble at her bread.

We awaited her answer impatiently.

"I'm not sure," we all let out a disappointed sigh, as if we wanted to hear a more interesting explanation. "I've never needed to eat much. The scientists at the Lab did it. Maybe that's one of the reasons I'm an Empathetic." We exchanged glances. Not being hungry all of the time would be a real plus.

We all sat back, contented. I was considering what to do about Shacar when the ceiling burst open.

It was the new and improved Flyboys. I watched Shacar to see her reaction, but I got nothing but hard determination.

Maybe because there are six seriously determined bird-kids and one Empathetic that feels our emotions and acts upon them.

Right.

So whether or not Shacar had run into these guys before, I knew she was going to fight them just as hard as we were. That could come in handy.

Then again, none of us really talk about our feelings, and having one person that could channel our emotions and know what we hide would not necessarily be a good thing.

I considered all of this as I punched, kicked, and attacked the relentless enemies. All of us, including Shacar, had our wings out, helping us balance. Fang was wrestling one on the ground, his nose bleeding, Iggy and an inch-long scrape on his forehead, but was holding up, if barely, Nudge's shoulder was bruising as I watched out of the corner of my eye, and Angel was ordering the Flyboys to bang into one another.

"Time to fly!" I shouted, punching another in the face. The flock obeyed and one by one they all flew out, including Shacar.

There was a clear path for me and I started to run.

Then I heard a terrible 'crack' and everything went dark.

The floor opened up and swallowed me whole

--

Oooo, what happens now?

I know Empathetic is not a noun, but the whitecoats aren't very creative with their names.

R&R please :)


	4. Struggle

I'm going to make this a really really really long sentence and see if it repeats this so sorry about the run on and everything

I'm going to make this a really really really long sentence and see if it repeats this so sorry about the run on and everything but I really don't know why it does this, if any one could help with that I'd be grateful.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate the time you take to do that, and for reading it.

**Disclaimer: **Max Ride isn't mine, but Shacar and everything about her is. Please don't steal her.

--

My heart beat in my chest so loudly I couldn't hear anything else. Max hung limp in my arms, and it took every ounce of self control not to just run away and hold her to me and cry and break down.

Her face was as pale as a ghost's **(A/N bad comparison, pardon me.)** One eye was swollen shut, a long scratch starting just beneath it and ending at the corner of her mouth. The hair on the top of her head was matted down with blood.

"I love you," I whispered softly, so quietly not even Iggy would hear, so quietly that I wasn't sure I had said it my self.

I had seen her fall, saw the version II Flyboy come of behind her and hit her head. I watched terrified as law unconscious on the ground. I had flown, but I was too slow.

Shacar had gotten there first, propped her head up, smacked a Flyboy coming towards them. We'd gotten her out together, flapping like our lives depended on it.

Which they did.

I remembered the way that Shacar had regarded me, tight-lipped but with concern and pity in her eyes. Those sharp, mis-matched, cold eyes had seen right through me. She sensed my desperation, sensed my fear.

Sensed my love.

And just like that, Shacar had uncovered the truth. Whereas Angel didn't truly understand, she read minds, but didn't _know_ how it felt, Shacar knew. She felt it. And I heard both of our hearts break in unison as our eyes fell to Max.

But no matter how terrible it was Max was alive. I heard her faint raspy breathing; saw the sweat beading at her hairline.

I followed the others, seeing them out of the corner of my eyes. I had no clue where we were going, until we landed in front of a hotel. A nice hotel.

I took a break from my mourning and looked up. Seven raggedy kids, one unconscious, did not belong here.

_It doesn't matter, Fang. This is for Max._ Angel talked to me in my head, reassuringly. The lobby was deserted, if only due to Angel, and the clerk handed over four card keys, his eyes glossed over. I faintly protested in my mind, but didn't say anything.

Shacar came over and rubbed both my arm and Max's comfortingly. Her hands were like ice.

"I'll take her now. We got two rooms. You need to rest now, Fang." Her voice sounded far away, and suddenly I was no longer a part of myself. I watched myself protest, gripping Max like she was a anchor.

"I know how to help her, Fang," Shacar said, trying to convince me. "I can help her, please, you aren't thinking properly." It was true, my thoughts were jumbled, but they were all about Max.

One tiny fight, and Max was mortally wounded. It couldn't be. After all we'd been through together. After all we'd conquered.

And she hadn't saved the world yet.

I watched and tried to yell out as I handed Max over, Shacar taking her gingerly.

_No Angel, no! _

My eyes drifted shut, and I slid to the floor, breathing evenly and deeply as if I'd never had a care in the world.

--

Gazzy and I picked up Fang, supporting his arms as we dragged him down the hall after the girls. Shacar was giving orders, though they sounded like mere suggestions. Angel was helping her tell the flock what we needed to do. We filed in to the elevator, Nudge helping to take some of Fang's weight, as the Gasman wasn't helping too much. We followed them down the hall, the girls going in to one room, us the other.

Nudge patted me on the shoulder as she entered her room.

--

I watched carefully as Shacar lay Max down. She for the pack she brought, and dumped it out onto one of the beds. There was an assortment of pencils, brushes, tiny tubes of paint, and more importantly, pain killers, gauze, and medical tape.

"Why do you have all this?" I wondered out loud, as Shacar took the water Angel had gotten from the bathroom.

"I move around a lot. Manhattan isn't always the safest place for a girl to live by herself. I'm always prepared, though." She glanced at me before dipping a paper towel in the water and patting at Max's head wound. It was still bleeding freely.

"We need something to disinfect the wound," Shacar muttered, searching through the bag. There was nothing.

She continued to clean it out, patting it with gauze and then holding a bunch of it to her head in an attempt to stop the bleeding. She taped it there, so she could work on the other scrape across her face.

I studied her face as she did so. She was determined, eyes narrowed, though she looked as strange and foreign as ever. I supposed she had to wear sunglasses when she went out in public. There was still a paint smear on her face.

_Why do you think she wants to help us, Angel?_ I asked in my head, quickly lookin at her, then back to Shacar.

_She wants to be a part of us. She doesn't want to be alone._

--

R&R please :)

The reunion shall be overflowing with Fax, by the way.


	5. Melting

Disclaimer: I don't own the flock

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the flock.

--

Max POV

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a great, white light.

I tried to sit up, my head reeling. I heard whispers, which rung and echoed. I shoved my hands over my ears to quiet them down.

The light adjusted and I saw that I was on a bed. The sheets had been twisted up in my legs, the quilt thrown over the side. My hair clung to my forehead and neck as if someone had dumped a bucket of water over my head. I shivered.

"Max! Like, ohmigod! You're awake. We knew you were gonna wake up we just didn't know when and we were all really really nervous and the whole flocks here and you've slept for like a day-"

Someone slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth and I mentally thanked them.

I blinked multiple times, large blurry images taking shape. Everyone came to the side of my bed and sat down. Fang stood next to me.

Fang. I looked up at him. His eyes were red and his face white- he looked even more like a vampire than usual.

A very sexy vampire, might I add.

_God, Max. Did they put you on drugs again? What're you thinking? _I shook my head and attempted a smile. He replied with a tight-lipped sort of forced grin, but there was relief in his eyes. It made me want to cry.

Then I noticed Shacar wasn't there. I instantly straightened. She'd left, sold us out, that rotten, sneaky-

_**Fang made us lock her in the bathroom. He doesn't trust her, especially since you're sick. **_I know this sounds cruel, but I was thankful. We can't afford to take chances here.

I nodded at Fang and he seemed to understand.

As I became fully awake, an excruciating paint split into my head. I bit my lip, eyes rolling back. I let out a tiny groan.

I felt a hand catch my head and let it slowly down on to the pillow. That hand took my hand and that voice began to beg me to stay awake.

They were all asking if I was okay, feeling my forehead, pulling the covers up to my chin. The voices didn't quite register. I bit my lip, drawing blood. It tasted metallic and bitter.

Chaos reigned throughout my head, pounding, pounding, pounding.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

"What… the…" I managed through gritted teeth, "_fudge_… are they **doing to me?!**" I could see Nudge and Angel and Gazzy and Iggy and Fang, even Fang, my Fang, give me strange looks.

"I need… to be _alone._" I hissed, the anger at Itex and all they had done leaking into my voice.

"No way. You could kill yourself right now. I don't know what happened, but this isn't an ordinary head wound. They might have put something in it."

Woah there. I swear the world just stopped. What was with that little ­_speech_ that Fan just gave? That was probably the most I'd heard him talk, ever.

Then again, I could be hallucinating. Whether that was Fang, or just some weird voice in my head that was impersonating him, (not _the_ voice, I assure you), it was right. The hit was probably shallow, but what if whatever they had used on me was covered in some kind of, I don't know, poison?

I could still keep a partly clear mind though. I knew what I was about to say, and why I was saying it. I could be responsible for my mouth, but who knew? This might just be a dream. All the colors _did_ seem a little warped.

But then I felt a sharp sting on my face and I knew it wasn't a dream.

"Nudge!" yelled Iggy, "why the hell did you just slap her?!"

"Well, you saw her, she was like wigging out and her eyes were rolling back into her head and she kept biting her lip and its _bleeding_. I think shes lost enough blood today, thank you very much. And-"

"Nudge. She was not 'wigging out.'"

"Could you all just shut up a minute?!" I roared, clenching my teeth and closing my eyes as tightly as they could go.

"That's it. Everybody out," Fang ordered. Surprisingly, they all obeyed. Perhaps they were frightened I was about to start chomping their heads off or something.

Fang didn't leave.

"You too, Fang. I'm just going to sleep." I waved him away, finally dropping my head on the pillow once more. Instead, he came to the side of my bead and sat next to me. "Seriously Fang, I'm fine. I just. Need. To. Sleep."

"I'm not going to leave you alone. Iggy was right, you aren't 'wigging out', but you aren't quite right either. And," he added, gesturing with his head to the bathroom door, "we still have a mutant close by."

"Where'd I get these bandages?" I questioned, fingering the one on my cheek.

Fang looked away, almost ashamed. He reached out his fingers as if he was going to touch mine, but decided against it. "Shacar. Look Max, Angel put me to sleep and I couldn't… I didn't know what they were going to do. I think maybe, there's something that Shacar gave you when she put on the gauze and crap, even though Angel and Nudge said they watched her. But we all agreed you'd lost too much blood already, and if we took off the stuff then you might lose even more. It might've been too late by then anyway." He looked at me pleadingly. "I'm sorry Max."

"It's not your fault. I'm glad you… locked her in the bathroom." I felt a little bad, since she could probably hear everything we were saying right now. But just a little. "So you think she gave me something that's making my head feel like it's going to explode?"

He nodded, finally taking my hand. I tensed for a second, but relaxed. It isn't like I can run away now, even if he kisses me.

_God_, something is wrong with me.

He's like a brother to me, right? Right? I couldn't love Fang. So why, _why, _did I always get this way whenever… whenever he was around me?

And why the hell was I thinking the same word twice every once in a while in my head?

_**You love him. Max. That's why.**_

Oh God. The voice is just about the last thing I need to hear right now.

_How is it that you know this and I don't know it myself, then?_ I responded. It didn't.

"Perfect," I mumbled. I looked at Fang, who was searching my eyes for something. What, exactly, is going on here?

"Max, I uh, I need to tell you something."

"Mhmm?"

He faltered for a moment, but then took a breath and looked me straight in the eyes.

"How do you feel about me?"

I almost choked on… well on my own spit, if you're wondering. "That's a question, Fang. You said you need to _tell_ me something," I countered, sputtering.

He glared at me. "God, Max. Did anyone ever tell you that you're a very literal person?"

"You…you tell me first." I know, I sounded like a first grader, but my heart was pounding in my ears. It was distracting, plus it kind of hurt.

He smirked at me. Yes, folks, _he_ smirked at _me._ I know that isn't unusual, but seriously. At a time like this? My hand itched to slap it off his face. But I don't slap, I punch, and I didn't want to hurt him _that_ much.

"I asked you first," he said, matching my first-grader-ness. I sighed.

"Fang, this is not the time."

His smirk faded. "When will it be time?"

"When we finally save the world," I replied.

"Why not now?"

"Because I said so."

I'm not going to lie, he looked a little hurt. But on top of everything else I have going, I did _not_ need this. Fang look like he was going to say something, but he didn't.

Yeah, instead of _saying_ anything, he kissed me. Softly, gently, kissed me. On the lips, might I add. I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it, at least a little bit.

For once, he was the one to pull away.

"Fang-"

"Shut up and go to sleep, Max." He turned away and stood up, going to sit in a chair with his back to me.

I buried my head under the covers and squeezed my eyes so tightly that it hurt.

A few minutes later, I was sound asleep.

--

I tried to make this one I little bit longer since I have not updated in a while. I know it wasn't _overflowing_ with Fax, but I didn't want it to be _too_ OOC. I hope you liked it.

I've decided this isn't going to be a really long story, Maybe about 10 chapters. But I'm going to make a sequel, I think.

R&R pleasums! D 


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